


Season 7

by JakePeralta



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Multi, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, it's convenient plot, just my idea of season 7, kind of an au but not that much, written like it would be in the show so each chapter is an 'episode'
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 21:07:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4236642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JakePeralta/pseuds/JakePeralta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After emotional goodbyes, the Greendale 6 are all back to finish college after Jeff's suggestion of becoming teachers in the one place all of them felt at home. Still with one year left it gives the group lots of time for hijacks, mistakes and even love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction to Future Development

"I have great news!" Craig announced walking into the study room with his normal skip and a bounce.

"Is it that you're not wearing a costume?" Jeff snidely replied and was met with a unamused stare from his boss.

"Well firstly I'm glad to see everybody's back!" He gestured to Troy and Shirley who were both finally sat back in there own seats. Abed was staring at Troy and Annie took another opportunity to hug Shirley.

"Thank you Annie." Shirley smiled and addressed the group. "I'm glad to be back to take over my Sandwich shop which Britta, um, kindly gave her best shot at running." Britta smiled at Shirley lovingly as she didn't quite understand she was being kindly insulted.

"And I'm just glad to be back. I was in England when I got the call that Pierce wasn't actually leaving me any money. They have some crazy stuff over there. Like real-life toy soldiers, and these things called freddos and-" Troy began. Hawthorne wipes had been working on a law suit to get Troy bequeathment and after investigation had found no money left in Troys name offically. Troy had decided he'd travelled enough and moved home to see his family and Annie had immediately contacted him to come back to Greendale, which he'd happily accepted.

"Anyway!" The Dean interrupted. "I actually wanted to let everybody know the exciting news. After a long and competitive rivalry, the two colleges have decided that City college and Greendale need to stop all this silly competition and cooperate with one another. The new Dean is really a stand up guy! Therefore we're running a program to get us more involved with each other."

"That sounds good!" Annie grinned.

"It is, Annie!" Craig was glad somebody was getting on board. "And it means teachers here at Greendale are going to be meeting with teachers from City college in their own field. Chang, you'll be meeting with some of the other math teachers."

"Awh man." Chang complained. He'd popped in to see everybody and was stood leaning against the sofa.

"And Jeffery, you'll be meeting with their professor of law." Craig continued. Jeff pulled a face, imagining a long meeting with a old grumpy man who would most likely bore the crap out of him.

"Frankie will email you the information, and she said to tell you all she is loving her new office and will be around to greet you all shortly. Dean you later!" And with that, he left the room.

"That sounds fun, Jeff." Annie said and was met with mutters of agreement from around the room.

"Yeah and you might actually learn something Jeff, unlike the people who take your class." Britta teased.

"Oh ha ha, and remind me again what blow off classes you'll be taking this year to become a shrink Britta?" Jeff retorted.

"Hang on, shrink?" Shirley asked, confused. "Last I heard you were being a psychologist or a therapist or something."

"There's a position for a new school shrink here at Greendale. After a year, I can complete my course and Dean said the job is mine." Britta explained.

"Yeah, and I'm completing my degree and becoming a professor of criminology here!" Annie added. "After my internship at the FBI, I feel I have a lot to offer students."

"After this year, I'm becoming the new film teacher." Abed said, still not taking his eyes off Troy. Troy shuffled in his chair, a little uncomfortable.

"Oh that's nice." Shirley said. "And why all the sudden changes of heart?"

"Well, we were all so moved by Jeff's ideas for season, or year 7, about us teaching here, and that got us thinking. Abed and I have been talking all summer and we decided this is where we belong. We spoke to the Dean and he agreed!" Annie tried to smile at Abed but he wouldn't look at her. She glanced down, a little disheartened.

he two of them had been so excited planning this year together, but now Troy was back, Abed had hardly said more than a few words to her.

A little uncomfortable, Annie tugged at the edge of her floral dress. The comment about her clothes last year had been accurate. The pant suits and formal wear just didn't feel right. Even if she had to grow up, she didn't have to dress like somebody she wasn't.

"Abed, why are you staring at Troy?" Britta finally asked and Troy thanked her. 

"Well, as all you should know by now, I have a tendency to freak out at the start and the end of each year. Right now, I'm worried Troy isn't really here and I'm just imagining him, so I'm hoping if I don't look away he won't disappear." Abed explained quickly.

"Aren't you worried I'm not real, Abed?" Shirley asked, her tone a little accusational. 

"Not really. Your return was a lot more inevitable. Spin offs rarely last."

"She didn't spin off Abed." Jeff pointed out while Shirley just looked confused.

"Abed, you've got nothing to worry about. I moved back in. I've signed up for classes. I'm back for good. Okay buddy?" Troy assured him and Abed finally looked away.

"Okay." The pair did their special handshake, something they'd been doing pretty much non stop since Troy's return. Annie was getting a little frustrated hearing all the clapping in the apartment, but she was just so glad that Troy was back that she didn't mind. Besides, the apartment was surprisingly less quiet now that Britta had moved out. She'd found a nice apartment she could afford with her bartender job which was going well much to everybody's surprise.

"Can we wrap this meeting up now?" Chang whined. "I had a class to teach 20 minutes ago."

"Fine. I declare this meeting of the maintain Greendale committee over." Annie announced and Chang quickly scarpered. Abed and Troy quickly starting talking about redecorating their bedroom while Shirley and Britta started to catch up. Jeff checked his phone and saw an email alert.

"Hey." Annie said quietly, just to Jeff. 

"Oh hey." Jeff replied and the conversation lulled. They hadn't really spoken since she'd left.

"Look, about last semester..." Annie began but Jeff interrupted.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking and I shouldn't have said what I said." Jeff admitted.

"Right. I think we both just had a case of what Abed would call 'finale panic' and we did something silly. Friends?"

"Friends." Jeff said and bought her in for a hug, catching Abed's eye. He must have heard them mention his name. Jeff squeezed Annie tight into a hug and couldn't help but notice it felt...like nothing. Sure, it was nice to hug her, but he hadn't been lying. He really did think they should be friends. And now they were just two friends hugging. 

"I'd better go, I just got an email from Frankie saying my meeting with the City College law teacher is now. Oh. And she said to tell you she hopes your ring binder is as fantastic as last year." He added to Annie who smiled and reached into her bag, pulling out a purple fluffy folder with a large yellow star on the front to show him. Jeff said his goodbyes to everybody, then headed out. 

As Jeff strolled into his classroom for the meeting, he was prepared for the worst possible situation. A collection of elderly men as offensive as Pierce who would demand to spend the day talking about laws he didn't care about.

However he was not prepared for what he actually discovered when he entered the room. A singular, stunning women was sat at his desk in an empty classroom. She had red hair and a freckled face. She was wearing red lipstick that perfectly matched her red shirt. Jeff glanced down to get a quick glimpse of her very flattering tight skirt as she bounced up to shake his hand.

"You must be Jeffery Winger, I'm Sammy Davis from City College." She chirped.

"Jeff, nice to meet you. You are not what I expected at all." He couldn't help but say. She laughed as he pulled up a chair and sat at the opposite side of the desk she was.

"Thank you. Most people like of old boring men when they think law. No offense." 

"Stop complimenting me." Jeff grinned. "So, what are we supposed to even talk about in these meetings?" Jeff asked and she quickly grabbed her bag.

"Lots of things! I think this whole idea is just fantastic, I have so much wisdom to share about teaching law, and I can't wait to hear what you have to tell me as well." She pulled out a neon orange folder. "Sorry, I like colors." Opening it, Jeff noticed immediately how organised it was.

"Wow, my friend Annie would adore you." He commented and she thanked him.

"I thought we could start by talking about our different starter activities, then tests, levels of homework, techniques of marking class management. Then maybe curriculum?" She listed off and Jeff was impressed.

"You really like this, don't you?"

"I really do. Teaching had always been a love of mine. Isn't it yours?"

"Ur, honestly no. I was a lawyer, but I got disbarred when they found out I faked my college degree. So I became a student at Greendale, earned a degree but found out I didn't really like being a lawyer anymore. Came to Greendale to sue it but ended up getting a job here and saving the place from being shut down" Jeff explained.

"That's impressive." Sammy commented. "But at least now you've found your passion."

"Yeah..." Jeff said weakly.

"I always think if you're going to do something, you should do it properly, you know?" She reached out and gently stroked Jeff's arm. He glanced down at it and she moved it away quickly.

"Sorry, I've been looking for an excuse to do that since you walked in. Man, you are just all muscle." She shrugged and turned some pages in her folder and excitedly began to tell Jeff her best activities for starting a lesson and to his surprise he enjoyed hearing about them. After a while he starting taking notes. She eventually stood up and started writing on the board and it soon turned into a real lesson. It lasted 2 hours and Jeff felt like he'd learnt just about everything he would need to know about teaching.

"Wow. That was eye opening." Jeff said, clearly shocked. "Thank you so much."

"We'll carry it on next time." Sammy smiled, packing away her files into her bag. "And maybe you can thank me some time over...drinks?" she said confidently and left the room, leaving Jeff is a state of confusion.

************************************************************************

As Jeff sat down with the rest of his group he couldn't help but smile at the familiarity. With Shirley and Troy back, not to mention the reassuring absence of Chang, it felt good. It felt right.

"What are you smiling about?" Shirley asked as he starts to eat.

"What? Nothing." He said too quickly to sound believable. Everybody's eyes were suddenly on him.

"Come on Winger, spill the beans, did you finally punch Leonard in the face?" Britta asked.

"Can we drop it guys?" Jeff argued.

"Oh my god, its a girl!" Britta exclaimed "I know that look, its always a girl!"

"Its not a girl, its none of your business." Jeff declared but nobody believed him. Instead they all started debating over who it was.

"Classic start of year vibe Jeff. A love interest." Abed mumbled, mostly to himself.

"Annie, dear, would you mind accompanying to the bathroom? Even since you all cleaned up Greendale, I can't tell where anything is. I used to rely on smell." Shirley explained and Annie got up to join her. They walked together to the bathroom in comfortable silence.

"Come here girl, let it out." Shirley said the second they entered, pulling Annie in for a hug.

"Shirley, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Jeff and his new women. When I left, you two were looking like you were gonna... You know.."

"No! I mean it's weird. Last year, before I left for DC, he kissed me." Shirleys mouth dropped open. "But.. I feel bad because it didn't feel right. And now, its different. I feel bad that I don't feel bad. Its crazy. I mean, I've liked Jeff so long I think somewhere along the way I stopped wanting to be with him and just carried with my crush from the memory alone. I wanted to like him so I told myself I did. Is that bad?

"No dear, it's a good thing. You can both move on." Shirley patted her arm and they calmly left the bathroom.

"I'm so glad you're back Shirley."

"Me too." She replied in her bright, song like voice. 

************************************************************************

"Troy?" Britta said as the familiar face walked into the class. He looked older obviously, but his hair was still the same length as always and he wore the same clothes. Britta thought maturity suited him. Troy looked up from his phone and grinned.

"Hey Britta. I didn't expect to see you here." Britta was embarrassed to be in this class, but with all the history between her and Troy, it wasn't too bad that he was the one that saw her here. 

"I want to improve my knowledge. Figured this class was the best I'm going to get. What are you doing her?" He took the seat next to her. Last year the school had started running a world issues and politics class, but Britta has refused to attend, saying she didn't need it. 

When she'd moved out of Annie and Abeds, she'd realized something. And that was that there was nothing wrong with asking for a little help. They'd taken her in from a tent on schools campus and didn't care at all. They didn't judge. Even if her parents were helping them do it, but they still helped her. She needed to be big enough as a person to ask for help when she needed it, so this class was going to help her.

"I saw a lot of these kinds of things on my travels, and Levar Burton started teaching me about this stuff. Man that dude is smart. But yeah, guessed this class would be an easy credit for me." He thought for a moment. "Hey, if you need me to help you study, I'd be happy to."

Normally, Britta would have said no but instead she politely accepted the offer just before the professor walked in. Quietly she leaned over to Troy.

"I've missed you." She whispered and Troy looked pleasantly surprised.

"You too."

"What was that?!" The teacher pointed directly to Troy and yelled, staring at him without blinking.

"Nothing." Troy said quickly.

"That's right nothing, now get down on the floor and give me 20!" He barked. Troy didn't move, hoping he was kidding. "NOW!" Troy fell to the floor and started doing press ups while the teacher raised his leg and pushed his foot onto Troy's back. Britta's mouth fell open in shock.

"My name is professor Douler and I'm teaching intro in world issues and politics. Can anybody tell me what this boy did wrong?" Nobody put their hand up. "He disrespected my authority. And in this class, I am the leader. You do not disobey. Understood?" The class muttered an reluctant agreement.

"Open your textbooks and tell me what is the problem with rebels." Troy finally counted to 20 and was released and allowed back on his chair. Britta was outraged. Their new class teacher was insane.

***********************************************************

As Jeff waltzed into his new class, he thought about what Sammy had said to him, about passion. He'd been good at being a lawyer because he was passionate about it. Was Greendale really _that_ bad that he would just do the bare minimum constantly? Was teaching just bad because he expected it to be?

He glanced up and was surprised at what he saw. The class was near full but the front room was taken up by the people he cared most about. Shirley and Abed both gave him the thumbs up, while Annie was still preparing her notes and recorder. Troy and Britta sat together at the end and smiled cheerily at him.

"Good afternoon class, I'm Mr Winger, your teacher for introduction to law. I hope you've all got your books purchased and your notebooks ready." He gulped, knowing full well he didn't have a lesson planned in the slightest. He then spotted a head of red hair at the back corner. Sammy was sat there, quietly observing. He panicked. Then remembered something.

"In essence, being a lawyer is really no different from teaching. You stand in front of your peers, pace a little, ask them questions they may not know and eventually try and convince the room, no matter what, that you are right. It doesn't matter what you say. I could stand her and attempt to convince all of you that we have a law against owning cats." He paused to look at Britta's face which was as expected, horrified. "And if I'm passionate enough, I might be able to. Passion is essential in law. It's essential in everything. Without passion, what's really the point?" He glanced at Sammy who was grinning. It was very cute.

"I'd like to begin with a starter activity, please turn to the person sitting next to you. Now I want you to tell them the worst thing you can think of that you've done. A secret maybe. Now for your partners crime I want you to write everything you could think of that might have lead to that event. For example getting drunk. Find a motive. Find why they did it. See what drove them." Jeff actually smirked at his class, who were all getting on with their activity nicely, except Sammy who was simply looking proud.

***************************************************************

At the end of the class, Sammy left first as she didn't need to pack anything away. She strolled up to Jeff and patted him on the arm again.

"Thanks for the lesson Winger, I learnt a lot. See you next time." And she left as Jeff said goodbye. He watched her walk down the corridor. Shirley squealed.

"That's the girl! Jeff, is she a student?" She said disapprovingly.

"No! She's only a few years younger than he. And she's not any girl. She's the law professor at City College, she's a lady." Shirley gave him a nod of approval as the rest of the class began to filter out.

"OooOoh! Jeff's got a crush!" Annie teased, yet again surprised at how little it bothered her.

"No I haven't. Shut it you lot!" He whined, sounding like a high schooler.

"Good for you Jeff." Abed said among all the teasing. Annie turned to him as they were walking out the classroom.

"Hey Abed, I've barely got to talk to you today."

"That's okay. I've mostly been in the film department all day." He explained.

"Right. We could always go to that ice cream place we were talking about over summer? If you wanted to catch up?" Abed smiled and nodded while Annie turned to Troy.

"Did you wanna go get ice cream Troy?" She offered, but he shook his head.

"Sorry I'm beat. I'm gonna head back to our place. See you guys later."

"Okay." Abed said and they did their handshake. "You still wanna go?" Abed asked Annie and she laughed.

"Yes Abed, let's go."

Jeff watched his friends head off down the corridor and smiled to himself. He couldn't have imagined a better season 7 if he'd tried.


	2. Advanced Replication Studies

As Abed and Annie walked into Greendale together, they discussed the situation with Britta and Troy. Now that Troy was back, Abed was a lot more comfortable thinking about change when it came to their friendship group so Annie was glad she had somebody to discuss him with.

"He has been spending a lot of time with her over the last week." She pointed out.

"Almost everyday except when we had our kick puncher marathon." Abed agreed. "But they said they were just studying." 

"Yeah, but its Troy and Britta, they have a history."

"They broke up." Abed reminded her bluntly.

"Just because two people broke up doesn't mean they don't have something between them Abed."

"Right. Like you and Jeff." Annie's jaw dropped.

"No! Not like Jeff and I. We never dated, so we didn't have to break up." She clarified. 

"I suppose it was Troy's longest relationship." He stated matter-of-factly.

"I guess. And if they're getting close again, good for them." Annie smiled. "Are we still on for the movie tonight? I'll ask Troy later."

"No need. He's not taking the class so I doubt he wants to watch the movie. We can just watch it in my room." Abed explained.

To get a degree in education they both needed an English credit. Unfortunately the pickings were rare and they both had to do comparative literature. It meant studying a book called 'Time can't divide us' about a man who fell in love with a women but he's a time traveler and he can't control his life. Annie thought it lacked context and Abed didn't like the time travel ideas, saying they wouldn't work. He'd tried explaining time lines and portals for Annie but she didn't get it.

Instead of reading the book out of class, Abed and Annie had decided it would be easier and much more enjoyable to watch the movie.

"Abed! Annie!" They heard Shirley yell from behind them and they paused to let her catch up. She quickly greeted them.

"I can't wait for classes today!" She grinned, in a highly good mood. "Andre bought me breakfast in bed today and booked us the weekend at a hotel. I'm so excited."

"Shirley, that's fantastic!" Annie gushed.

"I know. Really having that small hiccup with our marriage was the best thing that could have happened. We're so much happier now." Shirley was in a blissful state of mind.

After she'd dedicated all of her time to her business and Andre left, she thought that was it but when she'd left Greendale it was like they were newly weds all over again. They were so in love again. Now she was back, nothing had changed. She knew how to balance everything better now. 

"That's great Shirley." Abed said. He was glad she was still attending Greendale. She wanted to carry on learning for her business while running at the same time. She wasn't really working for a degree, although she would get one at the end of her courses, it was so she could be the best business woman she could possibly be. Her return as cook for Shirleys sandwiches had been appreciated by her customers who informed her Britta spent more time working in a bar than serving anything.

"What about you Abed? Weren't you dating a nice girl?" Shirley pointed out and Abeds smile dropped.

"You never did tell me what happened with Rachel."Annie realised and looked at him expectantly. He glanced up and spotted Troy and took the opportunity to run.

"I have to go now." He said and ran as fast as he could to join Troy, leaving a very confused Shirley and Annie behind.

"Hey buddy, why did you run from the girls?" Troy asked waving at them both as they continued to stare.

"They were asking me why I broke up with Rachel." He explained.

"Why did you break up?"

"She ended things with me when she realized...It just didn't work out." Abed glanced back at Annie who wasn't looking in their direction anymore.

“Huh. So what classes have you sighed up for today?” Troy asked, changing the subject. Abed hardly needed any more credits this year so Abed, Annie and himself had decided to take some more thought expanding, practical and different courses.

“Baking for beginners.” Abed remembered.

“But you can cook? Weren’t you going to take over your dad’s business?”

“I can cook, but I can’t bake. I thought it would be something new.” Abed explained. He'd always liked baking scenes in TV, plus Annie said the course was mostly practical and she made the best pancakes. Seemed like a good idea. Besides, he was curious to discover how crème Brule was made.

“Right.” Troy nodded as they walked into the study room to see Jeff in something horrifying.

  
“Jeff?” Abed said in fear.

“What…what is that?” Troy said, his face of horror identical to the one of Annie, who had just wondered into the room.

“Come on guys, calm down.” He sighed. “It’s just a tie.” They all took their usual seats while all keeping an eye on Jeff.

"Knock knock!" Frankie's voice chimed from the doorway and Jeff silently thanked her for the distraction. She was carrying a large quantity of papers and folders which Abed took from her quickly and placed on the table. Annie took the opportunity to hug her tightly.

"Hey everybody!" She said as everybody but Troy and Shirley surrounded her. They both stood up but kept to the side. She spotted them and broke away from the others kind greetings. She looked at Shirley.

"This beautiful young women must be Shirley?"

"Hello, and you are?" Shirley asked politely. Everybody could tell she was flattered by Frankie's words.

"Frankie. I helped to save Greendale last year." She explained and turned her attention to Troy. "And you must be Troy. I've heard a lot about your steel drum skills!" She raved and the group looked a little awkward waiting for them to be found out.

"Thanks! I didn't think anybody here knew how good I am!" He gushed, leaving the rest of the gang astonished.

"What are you doing here Frankie?" Annie quickly changed the subject. Frankie had been sort of promoted. It had been decided, for Greendale's safety, Frankie should be a little bit more involved with decision making within the school, so she was now the Deans executive assistant along with her other jobs within the school. Everybody assumed she was basically running the school now.

"I'm here to say hey and give you all these anonymous evaluation forms for the school to see if we can improve it. How's everybody doing?" A chorus of 'goods' and 'fines' replied. She glanced around the room, missing it. She'd been accepted in this group, they were friends.

"Will I be seeing you all in the cafeteria later for burgers, and our are new side dish..." She smiled at Abed. "Buttered noddles!" He grinned.

"You got my request!"

"I did. I thought its a simple, cost-effective and practical dish for the cafeteria to serve." She looked at the faces staring at her. "I mean... They taste really good!" And everybody agreed. She said her goodbyes and promised to see them at lunch before leaving. Frankie couldn't really leave the Dean for too long. He was very dependant on her, but she didn't mind. It was good to feel needed.

As the group sat Annie felt a warm feeling sweep over her. They were a family again. They were all here, back where they were supposed to be, and even better they were back together. After Annie's drug problems, she never thought she'd have a family again. Yet she found one so quickly and she loved them so much. 6 years ago, she was in the worst place in her life and now she was a year away from a job, teaching in a place she loved with the people she cherished above all else.

"Okay everybody. As well as being a law study group, we've also been asked to be the 'maintain Greendale committee' so that means we have to help around and try to aid Frankie and the Dean. I've been given a list of tasks to do, who wants to..." Everybody slumped back into their chairs. "Be in charge of society starting?"

The room was silent.

"Come on! It's practically no work, people just come to you with ideas for clubs and events and you help as best you can."

"Oh that sounds fun!" Shirley spoke up and Abed put up his hand too. He was glad to have Shirley back, it would be fun to do something with her. Besides, he would like to pitch an idea for a couple of film clubs.

"Now, the Dean wants feedback on the City College exchange, so how's it going Jeff?"

"He does not want feedback." Jeff argued, continuing to pay little attention to the group. He was too distracted. Sammy was coming in again later and he was going to ask her out. He wanted to be on top of his game.

"But I want feedback Jeff!" Her voice ran through the room and the study group perked up in their chairs like meerkats.

"Hello Jeffery, look who showed up early!" The Dean announced and Jeff stood up.

"Hi Sammy. You're keen." She shrugged and the Dean exited pretty quickly in pursuit of Frankie. "This is my study group."

"I recognise them from your class. Hello everybody! I'm Sammy." She politely smiled and they got up to greet her. Annie was first.

"I love your binder, where did you find the colour?" She admired the orange and pointed to her own fluffy one. Sammy's face lit up.

"The stationary store off the side of City College. Did you decorate that yourself?" Annie nodded.

"PVA, superglue and I stripped a pillow. What organisation system do you use?"

"Alphabetical within a colour coordinated category!"

"Same here!" They both did a little jiggle up on their toes. Jeff realised something, horrified.

"Wow, they're practically the same person Jeff." She pointed out. Jeff hated this. For once, Britta was right.

It was scary. The excited little dance, the intense and compulsive organisation, the passion. They were even wearing vaguely similar clothes. Jeff always thought Annie dressed like a teacher, but he imagined her as more of a kindergarten teacher.

They both had strong principals, liked telling people what to do. Confident when they tried but judging by Sammy's behavior now, only really confident when they know the person.

He stared at the pair in horror. They were still exchanging school tips and hints.

He shook his head. No, he was imagining it.

"I'll try it! That's such a great idea, thank you!" Annie exclaimed just as Sammy turned, taking a step back so she was in line with Jeff.

"Everything alright Jeff?" They said in unison and Jeff almost passed out as Britta started laughing.

"Yeah...ur..yeah." He said quietly.

"Okay. Ready to get going?" Sammy asked and gestured to the door. "Or we could do it here on the table?" Jeff swallowed. Doing it on the table? Hell no, that was too much Britta for his liking.

"I mean, um, work on the table." Sammy flushed pink and Jeff felt bad for her. She'd come all this way to say hello to his friends.

"It's okay. We'll go work in my class." And he scooted Sammy off.

****************************************************

"She seems nice." Abed commented, thinking over Jeff's behaviour. He wondered if Jeff had noticed how similar Annie and Sammy were.

"She did. Ready to go?" Annie said, linking her arm round Abed's so they could stroll to baking together. Not too many were there,the class wasn't overly popular because nobody ever talked about it. Annie hadn't even realised they had an equipped classroom. It was hidden at the end of the science classes. They took seats at the front next to each other and waited for their teacher.

A tiny woman, about 5'1" walked in and introduced herself. She quickly explained the grading and what would be happened. Finally, half way through the lesson she said they'd be making cookies. Abed and Annie paired up and got cracking.

"I didn't think you'd like this kind of thing." Annie commented and Abed shrugged, measuring out some flour.

"I think we should do something different." Abed said, pausing his baking.

An older Annie might have questioned it until the idea was useless, or she might have immediately denied doing it. But Annie had evolved. Greendale had certainly helped this but it wasn't the only reason. Living with Troy and Abed meant she was strict as she had to to keep them safe and sensible. However she was more adventurous now. She loved doing these crazy, imaginative stunts. They'd done some of the weirdest stunts since Troy had moved back in.

They'd spent 3 days playing Lava. When Troy had come back, Abed had wanted to do something goofy and Annie was still disappointed she hadn't lasted long in the lava game they played in school. They'd meant for it to last the day. The prize was the winner would be permitted to choose any of the good chores to do for the week from Annie's chore routine. They'd only taken it so seriously because plumping pillows when making a bed was far preferable than taking out the trash.

Three days later and none of them had claimed their victory. They'd not taken as seriously as when it was at Greendale, they'd assumed two of them would just fall off eventually and leave the other the winner. But instead they all just lived without touching the floors until they'd declared a stale mate.

It had been a nice way to have Troy back. Annie hadn't noticed how much she'd missed him, and it was so nice to see Abed and him together again.

Still Annie was very grateful for the time she spent with Abed, whether Troy was there or not. He was so different from anybody she knew, it was always fun with him. Like playing in the 'newfound dreamatorium'. Annie felt bad she had been so keen to dispose of it so she'd asked for help for Abed's birthday. He'd been turning 24, being a year older than Annie and the same age as Troy actually was (even if he'd thought he was younger.) so Annie had wanted to do something special, especially as Troy and Shirley weren't there for him. As well as ensuring his birthday was awesome by making him buttered noodles and getting an inspector space time cake she'd contacted the Dean. She'd asked to convert one of the old, unused store rooms into a dreamatorium. He'd instantly said yes given how much he'd loved the last virtual reality equipment he'd obtained and he even volunteered to help. It had taken a while, but they'd managed to finish. The room was near identical to the one in the apartment.

Abed had loved it. He'd spent the day in there with Annie creating new worlds and lands for Inspector Spacetime and his constable,who had recently been transformed into a women. It had been a great day.

However, in the evening Troy had called and Abed had told him about the dreamatorium excitedly and then he wasn't so keen on playing in there. Annie knew he missed Troy more than he let people know. Annie had never been the constable again, and that made her sad. 

When Troy had come back, Abed and him had visited the dreamatorium immediately and Annie had been delighted to be invited. They gone in there a lot and Annie had been surprised to see Abed not wanting to leave. Shed asked him why he didn't want to leave and he'd looked at Troy who was doing up his shoelace and muttered quietly.  
'What if he's not real?'

Annie has assured he was, and Abed had seemed to accept that fact until the first day of school again. It was sweet really. He'd admitted that he'd gotten rid of the dreamatorium because he should live in a fantasy world, but Annie knew he wouldn't go back to being that obsessive again. He'd been learning to adapt to change and learn he shouldn't try to predict everything that would ever happen. She trusted him to be sensible, but she didn't want him to lose his immature, fun side. 

"Annie?" Abed said, tapping her on the shoulder. She snapped her head round, realising she'd been so deep in thought she'd not been paying attention.

"Yeah, sorry?" Abed's eyes flickered over his face trying to see how she was. He didn't think she looked sad.

"Do you want to make them?" Annie hadn't heard what he said, but she nodded politely and watched him wedge a couple of squares of chocolate together.

"Do you wanna spend lunch in the dreamatorium Abed?"

"Troy's busy." Abed said without looking up or missing a beat. Annie shrugged.

"Can we still go?" Abed looked up and Annie noticed a slight narrowing of his eyes.

"Okay."

"Great!" Annie exclaimed, then got to mixing some cookie batter together.

"Cool. Cool, cool, cool." Abed muttered under his breath.

***********************************

"So what did you want to start with today?" Sammy said, leaning against Jeff's desk and putting her large bag on the floor. Jeff couldn't resist looking over her long slender legs that were stretched out in front of him.

"Are you always this organised?" Jeff blurted out. Her head crooked to the side slightly in thought.

"Yes. It's easier at City College because I know where all my things are, but yes. Why?" Jeff gulped.

"No reason...Why don't you tell me about yourself?" He sat down at the desk and she took his as a prompt to also take a seat.

"You can have 5 minutes of private talk, and then we study."

They spoke for 5 minutes on the dot. Jeff was taking serious notes on the similarities between her and Annie.

Her favourite movie was silence of the lambs because of the memories of watching it with her mom, she loved sitcoms, she read more non-fiction books then fiction and she liked running.

Nothing like Annie.

Annie liked romance movies, she watched mostly Inspector Spacetime and crime shows, she loved fiction books, mostly fantasy and she hated exercise.

  
Jeff breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing slightly and trying to push the ideas out of his head. She started talking about marking methods, and the most efficient way of getting it done.

It was so tricky to concentrate. Every flick of the hair, every facial expression was being closely analyzed. Nothing was the same as Annie, so why was he still thinking it?

Eventually, Sammy gave up trying to teach him.

"Sorry." Jeff said half-heartily and she smiled softly.

"It's okay. It's probably not the most interesting thing to talk about." She leaned back in her chair slightly. "We should talk about something more interesting over dinner tonight."

Jeff was shocked. "Smooth."

"I know it was." She winked at him and he could resist chuckling. "So what do you say?"

"Aren't we supposed to be rivals?" Jeff felt like teasing, moving slowly towards her. Now he knew she was interested, it was fine to play around a little. "Coming from opposite colleges and everything?"

Jeff was hoping for another blush, for her freckled cheeks to flush so he could know he was getting to her, but it didn't make a difference to her, even with him up close to her.  
"Please don't try to compare us to Romeo and Juliet. Just say yes." She shrugged, confident.

The look of determination in her eyes.... Jeff snapped back.

That was Annie's look of determination. Every inch of it looked like it was imitating Annie, it was terriffing. Jeff's mind flashed back to when Annie lost her pen and was so god damn determined to find it.

"Ur.. I have a thing tonight. Maybe another time?" Now she turned red and Jeff's insides knotted.

"Oh. Okay." She said quietly, no longer confident. She gathered her things. "See you next time." And she left pretty briskly and Jeff slumped into his chair and slammed his head against the desk. He was such an idiot.

***********  
"What do you mean he's insane?" A concerned Shirley asked Britta.

"He's crazy!" Britta explained about Troy and her teacher, the push ups and the rest of the lesson. "He was victimizing poor Troy."

"That does sound crazy. What lesson does he teach?"

"Oh...um...well I'm taking intro to world issues and politics.. For the easy credit!" Britta blurted. Maybe she wasn't as evolved as she wanted to believe. "And...because I want educate myself on the topics more."

"Ooh that sounds boring. I like my math class. I have Chang so its basically an easy pass." Shirley explained.

"Whens' your class?" Britta asked. She wouldn't mind taking another blow off class. She was positive Wingers class would be simple enough. He wouldn't fail any of his friends.

"Right now!" Shirley squealed. "Chang let the whole class leave because he didn't want to stay around!" Britta smiled at the excitement her friend was showing. It was good to have her around.

"So, Britta, how was the shop while I was away?"

"I think it went well. Yeah, it was good." Britta lied. She was so glad to not be in charge anymore. That thing was running her into the ground. It improved when she'd given most of the actual work to the students. She was surprised at how many students would believe it was part of their business degrees. But she was still making no money, or at least none to turn a profit.

Now Shirley was back, it meant she was free to just help out when she could and not have to stress out about it.

"Good. You're okay with me taking over again aren't you?"

"Yes! Of course, it's Shirley's sandwiches, not Britta's Sandwiches. Honestly, it's great!" Shirley looked so grateful. "So you and Andre are good now?"

"Yes. I feel like we're newly married."

"For...the third time?" Britta pointed out. Shirley's smiled wavered for a moment.

"I know things haven't been perfect in the past, but it's all good now. Little Ben is so adorable! Do you wanna see some pictures?" Shirley started searching her bag for her phone and like some miracle Britta spotted Jeff.

"Sorry, Jeff needs to see me." Britta shot out and ran after him. "See you later!"

"Why are you running away from Shirley?" Jeff asked, not slowing down to make it obvious to Shirley that Britta was lying.

"Kid pictures. No thanks." She noticed his expression as they walked briskly across campus. "Who put the stick up your butt?"

"What, nobody!" He sighed. "Sammy asked me out."

"What the hot professor? Wow, you have a type." She laughed.

"No I don't." He said defensively, finally pausing so they could talk.

"Slater, Annie and now Sammy."

"But they were all different!" She raised her eyebrows. "Besides I said no."

"Why? She seemed clean."

"What you said got to me...about Annie." He admitted.

"About me?" Annie said behind them and Jeff almost jumped out of his skin.

"I told Jeff I think you're like Sammy." Britta explained and Jeff begged for the earth to swallow him up.

"But we don't look alike." Annie considered everything she knew about this woman. "But I suppose we did get on really well earlier." She shrugged, it wasn't a big deal. She got on with most people. 

"You're nothing alike, Britta just got into my head." Jeff lied but nobody was paying attention. He didn't want Annie thinking he was still into her. “What are those?” He said quickly, referring to the bowl of round cookie-like objects Abed was carrying.

“We make cookies. But we filled them with chocolate before we made them, so they taste good and have a gooey chocolate center.” Abed explained, eating one to make a point.

“It was all Abeds idea. I think we’ll get an A. We were going to the dreamatoruim to celebrate, did you guys finally want to try it?” Jeff and Britta looked at each other in panic.  
“No thanks, we have this situation to sort out.” Saving the pair of them, Britta whisked Jeff away. Sometimes she forgot how childish they could be. She couldn’t believe the Dean even let them have a dreamatoruim in college.

“Jeff, look, I was only messing around. Sammy seems great.”

“You’ve got in my head now! I can’t stop thinking about it. She’s so like her, it’s uncanny. They both like the same things, and order me around, and-"

“Hush Jeff. Just stop thinking about it. It’ll go away. You need a girlfriend Winger.” Britta sighed and glanced at her watch. “I have a class, I’ll see you in study group.” And she left him to mull over what Britta had just said. Was he focusing too much on Annie and Sammy’s similarities? Maybe it would be better to concentrate on their differences, he told himself as he headed to his next class.

************************************************

“Inspector! We need to head to the smallest planet in this galaxy or I’ll never be returned to my original body!” Annie yelled, clothed in a deep red dress on top of her other clothes. Abed had thrown his dressing gown over his own clothes and was wearing his usual inspector space-time hat.

They were inventing a parallel universe in which the constable had transformed into Annie. It was a common reenactment for them, but it meant it was faster because they didn’t need a backstory. However the result was always different. In this situation, the constable would have to decide whether or not to stay in the different body, or to let the inspector live. They were almost need the end of the story.

“We’re almost there! We just need to navigate this asteroid belt and then we can revert you back to your original space. Hold on!” Abed yelled, and Annie hastily gripped on to his gown and shoulder as it was the only thing in the room. They shook from side to side and stumbled around together until Annie fell, taking Abed with her. The ‘constable’ and ‘inspector’ ended up in a tangled mess on the floor.

“Pause simulation.” Abed said in a dead-pan tone and then started to laugh, joining in with Annie who’d started before the pause. She wasn’t quite as committed as Abed. Eventually they quieted down, allowing Annie to restart the simulation.

“Pesky space turbulence!” Annie stated, removing her leg from under Abeds.

“Careful Constable, this isn’t one of your Earth movies, those romantic comedy moment have no business here in space.” Annie frowned, had it really seemed like that to him? She supposed the clumsy falling of a couple was a common trope. She thought it was cute though.

“My apologies Inspector. But look, planet petita! We’re here!” The pair looked out the fake window, both imagining similar things. They gotten a lot better at knowing what the other was thinking off, so they viewed pretty much the same settings.

"That Blorgon traitor informed me what you need is in a cave on the West side. We'll need to defend ourselves, take a laser gun." Abed handed her an actual physical, but very fake, gun he'd gotten from a convection and they circled the room on full alert.

"We're here." They said in unison and stopped. In the situation, the Inspector didn't know the constable Reggie (Regina in this context) would have to choose between him and Reggie's old body. Annie feared how the situation would go down. She wanted to have a little fun, so she decided to make the situation as interesting as possible.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, taking a step back and raising her gun to the Inspector. Abed looked so terrified and betrayed Annie almost forgot what they were doing. His commitment was infectious.

"Reggie? This isn't you." His voice even shook slightly.

"You're right Inspector. But the only way to get back to me is to get rid of you." Annie pushed the gun a little forward, being reminded of paintball. Her hand shook a little as she concentrated

“You don’t have to do this.” The inspector said, his hands up in submission. “You unremarkables, you’re not programmed to kill.”

“Maybe we are. Maybe we’re tired of being called unremarkables. Maybe we’re tired of operating at a lower brain function than the Inspectors of space.”

“But… Reggie, we’re friends you and I. We travel together, in my machine, remember. Look around you. Don’t you remember where we are?”

“Don’t you mean, when we are?” Annie delivered the shows catchphrase like it was secondary nature, and brought her gun down.

“You win inspector. I’ll stay like this for now. But mark my words, I’ll find a way back to my original form without spilling your blood. Next time.”

“Stop simulation!” Abed announced, and they both came out of character. “Annie, you did well.”

“Thanks! I really winged it on that last bit, but good right?” They both sat down in the middle of the floor, Annie was exhausted from the busy morning. She took a cookie ball and started nibbling as Abed stared at her.

“So, it didn’t sound familiar to you?” She shook her head. “I once told you that you operated on a lower brain function that me. The first time you ever joined me in the dreamatoruim. You don’t remember?” Annie sighed and lay down facing the ceiling, quickly joined by Abed, after he’d removed his hat.

“Now you mention it. I suppose, but I didn’t mean to say it like that…” She explained. Abed smiled slightly.

“I was wrong. Just because we operate on different levels, doesn’t mean yours is lower. It’s like parallel universes. They exist simultaneously, but none are superior. It’s…look up at the ceiling Annie, tell me what you imagine.”

Annie, did what she was told, and looked upwards. She saw the night sky she used to imagine on her ceiling. She got yelled at when she started drawing the constellations on the ceiling with a permanent marker.

  
The sky now was full of things she wanted to immortalize. Her toys, her perfect grades (even from a young age she was an A student) and her family. Not her family now, but the one she wanted to remember. Her young brother adoring her, and her parents who still held hands and laughed together. Not the new family with her parents not talking and just yelling.

Annie explained the night sky to Abed, carefully taking him through each constellation and mentioning what they meant to her, expanding if Abed asked her to. She started imagining more constellations, Jeff, Britta, Shirley, and Troy. Abed was smiling down at her too. Frankie and Leroy sat together. Even Pierce was up there. She could even imagine the stupid Greendale butt flag revealed in the stars.

Her whole world condensed into a room full of stars. It was beautiful. She explained to the near silent Abed everything she saw, and he listened in awe to her imagination.  
“What do you see Abed?” She asked eventually, realizing it must have been at least an hour since they’d started talking about the stars.

"I see the galaxies from Inspector Spacetime. I see planets from Star Trek. I see the passage between worlds from the marvel cinematic universes Thor." Abed sounded depressed about it.

"What's wrong with that?"

"None of it's original. It's not mine. All my mind is a mixture of images from movies and Tv shows, without that, my imagination ceases to exist. I can adapt it, but nothing I see is from me. You, you're unique. What you see, what you imagine, it's all you. And it's wonderful. I remember, you create. Different. Parallel. But neither is better." Abed took ahold and gripped onto Annie's hand as they stared up at the 'night sky'. Annie's constellations dissolved into nothing but endless stars and Abed reduced his complex recollections of scenes from TV and movies to a simple night sky. They pictured it together and enjoyed, even if it was imaginary.

They sat in silence for a while, enjoying their own world. Nothing else existed, nothing else could disturb them. Or so they thought.

"Hello!" Craig burst into the room, so the pair sat up immediately. "Oh.. Am I disturbing something?" Annie and Abed snapped their own hands back from each other and started to protest immediately. The Dean shrugged.

"We were just playing inspector Spacetime." Abed explained.

"Fine. Fine, if you're not really to share the Dean-tails yet."

"I have a lesson, I should go." Annie remembered and took off her costume.

"I wonder where everybody else are." Annie checked her phone. "Jeff seemed pretty upset earlier."

Abed thought for a moment. "I should go." And he left, removing his gown and hanging it by the door, dodging round the Dean.

***************************************

When ABed got to the door of the classroom, he was glad to find it only had the person he wanted to see in there. Slumped at his desk and marking papers, Jeff looked depressed as hell.

"Jeff. Why were you and Britta discussing Sammy earlier?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He didn't look up so Abed joined him at the desk.

"Tell me. I won't leave until you do."

"Sammy asked me out. But I said no." He admitted.

"Because she's like Annie?" Abed finished his sentence and Jeff nodded. "You're being an idiot." Abed stated bluntly and Jeff got pissed.

"Abed, you don’t understand. It’s creepy.”

"You liked Annie because she was a good person, and she represented everything you never had. Stability. Dependable loved ones. Safety. She was always there for you, whenever you needed her." Abed couldn't tell if he was right, but he wanted to help, so he had to try. "You're protective, and you feel jealous when people try to be with her, because you're always going to need her. But only as a friend. And other people taking up her time means less time for you. And you value yourself on what women like you, because women like you for your body, friends like you for your heart. You're so afraid Annie won't like you if she not interested in you romantically, and she wouldn't be if she was dating somebody else. You always need Annie, so in your head, you need her to be in love with you. Because then she'll stay when no one else does." 

"But.." Jeff stopped, thinking about their conversation before the summer internship. He'd wanted her to stay, but not to be with him, just to be there for him.

Abed continued. "See, Annie always needed you before. To help her with the big scary world, and big scary community college. It was all new to her, and you could help. She needed you to protect her, because we know Annie, and she’s not as tough as she acts. And Annie thought you'd only be there for her if she had feelings for you. She thinks you only like women you want to sleep with.”

“That’s not true.” Jeff jumped to his own defence.

“How could she know that? You don’t spend that much time with Shirley because she’s not a potential romantic interest for you, and you made it very clear you were only friends with Britta because you wanted to get into her pants. How could Annie have known if she didn’t seem like a potential lover to you, that you wouldn’t stop being her friend?”

Jeff felt like the last 6 years of his life in relation to Annie finally made sense, and it was all his fault. He’d never let himself tell Annie how much she meant to him without it having romantic implications before, for as long as he could remember. When she’d been so upset at the model UN, they’d had such a great conversation, he’d explained to her how important she was to him, he’d shown her a part of his emotional side and his feelings, and he was so afraid of being rejected he’d almost gone to kiss her. Just to keep the attraction going. What was wrong with him?

“I hadn’t realized it before, I assumed you were both just waiting for the other to tell the other how they felt. I thought you were both in denial, and I was right. But both of you were really just waiting for the other to leave, even though neither of you would."

“So…why don’t I like the fact Sammy reminds me of Annie?”

“Sammy and Annie are similar. They’re both beautiful, passionate and intelligent. They both love organizing, I’m assuming because their lives are uncontrollably messy being at a community college. They both like being in control.” Abed considered the traits of one of his best friends for a moment, while Jeff thought about what he knew about Sammy. “Annie’s compassionate. She’s loving. She’s, in the best possible way, predictable. She’ll always be there for you. She’s everything that’s good about the world as one person.” Abed hadn’t meant to say so much, and Jeff noticed. Abed went backwards slightly.

“Sammy is all these things too, I’m guessing. But you don't know her well enough to be certain, so you assume. You assume she’s a good person too. It’s not a bad thing to like good things in people Jeff. If you choose all your friends because they made you laugh, it’s not creepy, it just shows what you value in people. Personally, I think you’ve chosen the right traits.”

“They don’t like the same things.” Jeff pointed out.

“Exactly. The only difference is that you know Annie. She’d never stop liking you, or leave you for longer than she had to. You’re afraid of Sammy because you’ve not got a way of keeping her in your life that isn’t romantic yet, so you’re scared she’ll leave before you have a chance of finding one.”

Jeff stared at Abed in awe for a moment. “Has anybody ever told you you’re a genius Abed?”

“Not nearly as often as they should.” Abed said confidentially. He’d been right, and he was glad.

“If you’ll excuse me Abed, I have a phone call to make.” Jeff said, reaching for his phone and going to Sammy’s number. Abed didn’t say another word, leaving the room as quickly as he’d entered.

“Shirley!” Abed heard a familiar voice yell and rushed to see what was happening. Troy and Britta’s looked like they were sat in class, but Shirley looked like she was talking to the teacher.

“Britta, it’s okay, I’m just going to have a little word with your professor. She gestured at Troy and Britta. “These two are like my children, they are my family. I would protect them with my life if I had to. You understand me?” Shirley was still talking in her overly nice, cute tone of voice as Abed snuck into the back of the classroom to watch the action.

  
“So you can imagine my anger when I heard somebody was treating them…poorly. And that they were in this class. Can you tell me who that was professor?” The professor shook his head so hard it looked like it was falling off.

“You tell that person, whoever they may be that if they mess with my little family again.” Her voice had nasty quickly. “I will hunt them down until the day they die which would be the moment I found them. Have I made myself clear?” Britta gave a triumphant cheer from her seat, and Troy clapped until eventually the entire class was cheering. Shirley joined Abed in the corridor with a sense of pride.

“Hey dear, did you have fun playing in the dream-a-torium?” Shirley had to pronounce it differently as she wasn’t used to saying yet.

“Yes thanks Shirley, and I helped fixed Jeff and Sammy.”

“Thank heavens. I’ve started getting worried for him, he’s not getting any younger.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Just to confirm, Sammy really is not Annie. She's not a copy or a replacement, her character is going to be developed a lot more. For me it just seemed in character for Jeff to try and make himself relate a new person in his life to somebody dependable. The only similarities are the matching organisation systems really. 
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I hope you enjoyed, this chapter is pretty short as it's just introductions! Next is about twice as long. 
> 
> This was originally posted on Fanfiction.net and I got some good feedback but I just want to make sure you know it's not a Jeff/Annie fanfiction. It references the whole thing, but not in the way the show would really. This fic is pretty much an AU, I know this is 100% not going to happen it's just my ideal, or liked, Season 7. 
> 
> The characters are back for plot reasons, that why I didn't go into much detail, so don't take it too seriously :) 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Feedback is always appreciated!


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